If any of the quotes from the following podcasts or video interviews are used, please credit those sources and provide an H/T and link back to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
** Matt Taven was the most recent guest on the ROHStrong podcast. Taven has been recovering from ankle surgery and while he’s been recouping from that surgery, he quietly had surgery on his knee during quarantine.
“That’s one of the weirdest things about this quarantine is that I’ve been able to quietly rehab my ankle surgery but also I got knee surgery as well during quarantine and have been able to rehab that while everything is going on. Its been a little difficult because since everything is closed down, I haven’t been able to get into the P.T. office, I really haven’t been able to talk to my surgeon except over Zoom and Skype, which is a little different. It’s hard to explain things that are going on and how you’re recovering over the computer instead of really showing someone and letting them see how you’re recovering. So, I think I’m doing great. I feel like I’m ready to go. I haven’t been able to get a doctor to say, ‘You’re cleared’ just because of everything that’s been going on right now with quarantine, but if it was up to me, and this might be my own stupidness from not learning from previous mistakes because I always seem to go out there to the ring no matter what condition I’m in but, right now if you were to ask me if I was ready to go, I feel like I am. I’m just waiting for a doctor’s ‘OK’ and hopefully, everything can kinda get lifted as far as lock down and probably my most important thing that I’m looking forward to is getting back into a doctor’s office so they can tell me I’m good to go.”
** Cauliflower Alley Club announced the passing of pro wrestler Luis Dasa, known as “Casanova”. POST Wrestling would like to send our condolences to the family, friends and loved ones of Luis Dasa.
** The Hashtag Show uploaded their interview with D-Von Dudley to their YouTube channel. D-Von shared that there was a time after The Dudley Boyz officially split up and he was making the transition to his role as a backstage producer, that he pitched to team with current WWE United States Champion, Apollo Crews.
“Well hell, if you think that’s the case and you think that’s good, then I should team up with Apollo [Crews] and me and Apollo get together and be the new Dudley’s 2.0.
I would do it. I would come out of retirement and do it with Apollo. Me and Apollo actually pitched that and it didn’t go anywhere. Yeah, so you have an exclusive. We actually pitched it and it was just brushed underneath the table. They never did it.
We would’ve had our own look. I really wanted to work with Apollo. I wanted to do [for] Apollo, what Faarooq did for JBL, because when JBL, when he got to WWE, he was doing that Texas thing and it really wasn’t working out. The minute he got with Ron, Ron showed him a different light and John credits Ron for that, and so I always — that was my thing. I said, ‘You know, Bubba and I are done. The Dudleyz are whatever. Let’s start something new. Let me go in here and do this with Apollo’ and I pitched it and it got thrown out.”
That was not the last of D-Von’s pitches as he also attempted to form a six-man tag team with Matt and Jeff Hardy. D-Von stated that the team did not have to appear on TV and could be house-show based team but he wanted to do it to save Jeff from having to put more wear and tear on his body.
“I even remember when Jeff was hurt and this was before he went out with his last injury. He hurt his back. His back was hurting him, but he was still wrestling and I remember going to the powers that be and saying, ‘Hey listen, you know its never been done. We don’t have to do it on TV,’ and this is when me and Bubba just broke up and I said, ‘Why don’t we do this to save Jeff and to save it so he doesn’t have to work that much? Why don’t you do a six-man?’ Because they were doing six-man’s too. I said, ‘Two Hardy’s and a Dudley.’ Its never been done, and I said, ‘We can save Jeff, and me and Matt can do most of the work and then tag Jeff when need be’ and they told me no.”
** Titus O’Neil was a guest on 95.3 WDAE to speak about the death of George Floyd and the current protests around the world in reaction to Floyd’s death.
** TV Insider published their interview with Titus O’Neil. When asked about his in-ring career seeing as how O’Neil has not wrestled on TV since the April 27th episode of Monday Night RAW, Titus said he is far from done in the ring and over the next couple of months, there will be something in the works that fans might be interested in.
“I’m still an active performer. Everybody can’t be on TV at the same time. This business can be cyclical. When the right opportunity comes to present me in a storyline, I’ll be more than happy to accept whatever role they want to put me in. At the end of the day, we’re all entertainers, and I love entertaining. I’m far from retiring. Being a WWE superstar is not just about wrestling. We are bigger than wrestlers. I’m very confident within the next six months, [fans] are going to see something come to fruition that really shows WWE superstars are so much more.”
O’Neil also recalled when Sami Zayn first started his “Sami For Syria” campaign/foundation. Sami was worried about having an endeavor that did not involve WWE while he’s still under contract with the company and O’Neil reassured Zayn that the company would be in his corner.
“We all have stories and pasts that have led to who we are today. Sometimes we want to go out and share that story, but travel schedules and work schedules might [make us] feel confined to just doing certain things with the company or organization. I remember Sami Zayn calling me on the phone a little over a year ago after he wanted to raise money for Syria. He said, ‘Do you think I would get in trouble for doing something like this since it’s outside the company?’ I said, ‘No, if anything, the company will embrace it and help you push it. You have to just make sure it’s structured the right way, that the right people are associated with it and that you have a clear message of what you’re trying to do.’
People like Natalya and Sasha Banks, those are my sisters. I feel like the entire roster, whoever I’ve called upon to help has been there, whether it’s Cesaro, Sheamus, Seth Rollins or Becky Lynch. They do stuff all the time, making videos for kids or something else. They say, ‘Anytime you need me, let me know,’ or if they call on me to do something or need guidance, I’m there. It’s the ultimate level of respect to me, but it’s also another level of responsibility. You don’t need to be holding a WWE title to be presented as a champion. We’re all champions.”
** OTT announced that their ‘Sixth Year Anniversary’ show will take place on October 31st at National Stadium in Dublin, Ireland.
** Kyoko Kimura, mother of the late Hana Kimura took to social media and posted a detailed message about her daughter and how she’s processing things as the days have gone on since Hana’s passing.
“I’m working to clarify various things. I’m doing the tweet I am doing now so that everyone who supports the flower fans loves them so that they can heal the Kanashi gods.
Please refrain from saying strong things to others, please reply to me. Please do it with your own SNS, please give me your feelings, but all of it now I cannot afford to take it.
Of course, I’m working to clarify various things in order to prevent such nasty things from happening again. They are working. It is not a method of slander or exposing, it is what I should do.
I want you all to watch over now. There are young children Chibikko-chan among the fan of flowers. I want you to think and choose words.”
** On Tuesday morning’s installment of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer stated that Rob Gronkowski was scheduled to work WWE’s Saudi Arabia show at the end of the year, prior to the news of Gronk’s return to the NFL.
** Patrick Gilmore, member of the WWE 2K development team hosted an A.M.A. on Reddit and one of the questions presented to him was why GM Mode was never brought back into WWE video games. Here’s how Gilmore responded:
“GM Mode is one of the most requested features we get. I can say that my message to the team was, “We’re not just going to trot out a mode from 2008 without bringing something new.” Top minds are thinking about that right now. Top. Minds.”
** New York Post posted their interview with Sonya Deville. Sonya discussed her current storyline with Mandy Rose, throwing her name in the conversation to play the “Batwoman” character among other topics.
** Armando Alejandro Montalvo, who was once known as the “WWE Performance Center stalker” went on another rant about WWE and his recent court date on his Facebook page.
** Dax Hardwood and Cash Wheeler of All Elite Wrestling will be on Jim Cornette’s podcast on June 5th.
** Below is a video of Aleister Black and Zelina Vega playing Mortal Kombat:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyvdW-M7k4w[/embedyt]
** As a part of NJPW’s Together project, David Finlay shared that the match that got him interested in New Japan Pro-Wrestling was Shinsuke Nakamura versus Kota Ibushi at Wrestle Kingdom 9.
** OTT ran a live stream on YouTube of some of the best matches that have taken place inside National Stadium.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bBQ9F0C00I[/embedyt]
** CBR chatted with WWE Hall Of Famer Kurt Angle. During their chat, Angle revealed that WWE offered him the opportunity to manage Matt Riddle on the SmackDown brand but he ultimately turned the gig down.
“I think that Matt Riddle is going to be one of the faces of the [WWE], he has all the ability. His personality is great. At first, it’s a little odd. But once you get to know him, he’s very likable, and that’s what he’s going to get from the fans. They’re going to love this kid, and he proves it in the ring. He’s phenomenal in the ring. There’s no doubt about that. But his whole bro gimmick thing works really well, and he’s going to do extremely well. WWE has offered me a job to manage him. Unfortunately, I turned it down due to a few different reasons, but I would have loved to manage him. It just wasn’t the right time.”
** ICW New York announced another drive-in show for July 4th in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
** Following her match against Nia Jax on the June 1st episode of Monday Night RAW, Kairi Sane posted a picture of the cut on her head that she developed after Nia tossed her into the ring steps. The footage was heavily edited and it cut straight to the portion of the match where Kairi was thrown back into the ring to finish the match. Fightful first reported the news last week that during the RAW taping, Kairi suffered the aforementioned cut.
** OVW’s latest episode of their television program is a tribute show to Shad Gaspard.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvcG8xH_Fb8[/embedyt]
** The newest addition to IMPACT Wrestling’s Knockouts division, Deonna Purrazzo spoke with TV Insider’s Scott Fishman. Deonna made her debut with IMPACT via a vignette on last week’s episode of their weekly show on AXS and in this interview, she explained why she decided to join the company.
“I think that IMPACT puts such emphasis on the women’s division. Tessa Blanchard became their world champion. Specifically, the last month or two they had Nevaeh debut, Tasha Steelz debuted, then I debuted. I think it’s a great group of women. They are all trying to establish themselves and push boundaries to put on the best product.
We are all so different from each other, come from different backgrounds and are different characters and are allowed to show that. I don’t think there is one person that is with IMPACT in any capacity who hasn’t been showcased on a week-to-week basis. That was the exciting part.
They are trying to change the game right now. They want to show out. I think they probably had one of the best women’s divisions out of all of the companies out there. So to see that growth, it was definitely somewhere I wanted to be put in the mix with. AEW has a great women’s division too. There are so many options for girls right now to go out and showcase themselves. I wanted to be part of it all.”
** As announced on RAW Talk on the WWE Network, The Street Profits (Montez Ford & Angelo Dawkins) and The Viking Raiders (Ivar & Erik) will compete in a Decathlon next week on RAW.
** The current OTT Gender Neutral Champion Adam Maxted appeared on talkSPORT’s ‘talkWRESTLING’ radio show. Maxted spoke about the passing of Hana Kimura and recalled the amount of negativity he received on social media following his appearance[s] on the show ‘Love Island’:
“I think just with the world that we live in now, with social media, everyone thinks their opinion matters. I’ve just always taken the approach that an opinion is not a fact. Really, it doesn’t mean anything. I don’t really voice my opinion and stuff on social media because it’s my opinion. But, for me, it was quite negative when I left the TV show and started wrestling in the UK. To me, I just kept my head down and kept working hard, but through social media, I would get messages, tweets and things, but I am a pretty strong, confident guy, so it didn’t really get to me too much. But, for someone who is maybe in a difficult point in their life or going through a rough time, getting constant negativity is when the devastating things can happen. I don’t feel like it’s going to change until a law comes in where there are repercussions for what you say online, or maybe you have to verify your accounts by proving your I.D. or whatever.”
** Part one of El Phantasmo’s interview with NJPW1972.com is live on the site.
** MVP sat down with Lilian Garcia for a new installment of her Chasing Glory podcast. The two conversed about a number of topics including MVP’s decision to return to WWE full-time. WWE called MVP in the past about returning for a Royal Rumble event and it was not something he was interested in at the time and he talked about what led to him changing his mind. Also, MVP discussed the process of him being brought back to be a producer and then transitioning to that full-time on-screen role.
“So I made a call — and they had asked me about coming back as a surprise at the Rumble before and at the time, it just wasn’t something I was interested in, and I reached out and like, ‘Hey, you guys asked me before. If you’re still interested, I’d love to come back now.’ Just for the Rumble, surprise entry, and they were like, ‘Sure, we’d love to have you come back.’
And then the next night — well the highlight for me that night was my son was in attendance. His first WWE event was the Royal Rumble. I know it was at Minute Maid [Park], it was this huge — and after the show, I brought him to the back. His favorite wrestler is Rey Mysterio and he got a chance to meet Rey Mysterio and Rey gave him a mask, because he’s so amazing and then they asked me if the next night if I’d wrestle in San Antonio which was I was like, ‘Yeah sure. It’s an easy drive,’ and Paul Heyman, he and I have been cool for a very long time and I had told him about Rey being my son’s favorite wrestler and then the next thing I know — first I was in some sort of a tag match. A little while later, Paul Heyman comes back, ‘It’s you and Rey, go have fun,’ and I was like, ‘Wow!’ And I knew my son was watching, and then after that, John Laurinaitis called me over to the side, said, ‘Hey, let’s have a talk’ and they offered me a position as a producer and I had intended to retire this year anyway. I was like 46 now, you know?”
MVP spoke on the passing of his friend, Shad Gaspard. A moment between MVP and Gaspard that went viral on social media was when they were filmed after Kofi Kingston won the WWE Championship at WrestleMania. It was an emotional moment between the two and initially, MVP was upset with Shad for sharing that publicly.
“I felt upset because I thought that was a private moment. That wasn’t [for] public consumption. That wasn’t for the dirt sheets or whatever, and I know Shad is very ambitious and he likes to do [the] social media thing and I’m like, well at first I was kinda hot because I’m like, ‘Yo man, don’t post that sh*t for likes. That was a moment.’
I was just angry about it, and I let him know as much. I hit him up like, ‘Yo, this was bullsh*t man,’ and when I saw the response to the video and I saw what people were saying and people were able to understand what it meant to see Kofi win the WWE Championship to us, on multiple levels. I was in developmental with Kofi. I remember when he got there and I’m often humbled and flattered by him saying that when he got there, I was one of the first people to open — you know… and in those days, you remember it was kind of rough coming in. Got a little bullying and hazing, and I had already established myself with some of the made guys so I was treated a little differently and, but I wasn’t into the bullying and the hazing. I always thought that was kind of lame, and Kofi would talk about how I was very nice to him at a time when a lot of guys weren’t being nice. But I liked him. He was a genuinely good guy. So to see such a good husband, father, friend put in the hard work and attain something that’s like the apex of our industry and Kofi was born in Ghana, and grew up here. So literally, an African-American is holding the WWE Championship for the first time. That was a huge moment.”
** NWA Powerrr commentator Stu Bennett is starring in Ross Boyask’s ‘I Am Vengeance: Retaliation’ film that premieres in the United Kingdom on July 13th.
** The Wrap posted their interview with RAW Tag Team Champion Montez Ford. The publication asked Ford when is the right time for a tag team to split and Montez went in-depth while giving his answer.
“That’s a good question. When is the right time for a tag team… I think when one of the individuals starts feeling themselves. I think when one of them starts feeling themselves and the other individual is going like, ‘You know what? I’m better than this guy. I’m way better than this guy. I’m sick of this guy. He’s late. He doesn’t try to do anything. He doesn’t work. He’s not trying to be number one, He’s not trying to be champion. He’s not trying to be on TV Guide, TheWrap. He’s not trying to have interviews at 2:30 in the afternoon. He’s not trying to be number one in the press. He’s not trying to be God. He’s not trying to do anything.’ I think that’s when it starts coming to the point where it’s like, OK, when one of the guys feel like they have accessed me, if they have got to trim the fat, then I think that’s when it’s like OK. When other guy’s feeling themselves, when the egos start showing up, I think that’s when it’s time to cut the cord. But right now there’s no egos, ‘cause [Angelo] Dawkins is a pretty hefty guy, so I can’t really defend too many of the big guys when it comes to some type of in-ring competition. So he’s probably gonna be around me for a long time.”
** Matt Sydal chatted with Lewis Nicholls for an exclusive interview. Sydal opened up about getting suspended from WWE in 2012 for violating the company’s wellness policy while he and Kofi Kingston were the tag team champions. Sydal expressed that more than anything, he felt bad for Kofi but added that things would go on to work out for the best for Kofi in tag team wrestling.
“I mean yeah. I cared less about myself and felt really bad for Kofi. I remember talking to him about it, but that’s just life. Certain policies didn’t really fit in with my lifestyle and you know, you can be persecuted in many ways. That was like one of the ways I was being pushed and prodded and challenged and so my response was a little bit more aggressive than it could’ve been, but that’s just nothing I dwell about too much. I mean things happen the way they’re supposed to. If that hadn’t happened, would we have The New Day? Things work out for the best. Things worked out really well for Kofi and that makes me happy so, he’s probably better off without me.”
While covering his time in WWE, Sydal recalled working with former AEW World Champion Chris Jericho. He said that Jericho gave him a stiff clothesline during a match in WWE and that was the type of style he was looking to wrestle in the company. Sydal shared that he occasionally complained to The Miz about having a weak clothesline.
“But with Jericho, of course I got to slide up the card and so I had to go maybe five, eight minutes than normal and those are the eight minutes where I learned and I mean Jericho just had poise, and man he clotheslined my head off and I loved it. That was the exact type of wrestling I was looking for because I actually had some complaints occasionally to my boy Mike The Miz, because I’d tell him his clothesline was too damn weak. He’d clothesline Randy Orton and I mean, it didn’t even look like he hurt him, and when Jericho gave me the clothesline that I felt for days, that’s what I was looking for because that’s the kind of wrestling I always believed in.”
Throughout his two decades in the wrestling business, Sydal gave his pick for the greatest high-flyer of all-time and he selected Jack Evans.
“And I mean, I have to tell you, the greatest high-flyer of all time is a guy named Jack Evans. He’s the most innovative, creative, original, unique guy.”
** AJ Styles turned 43-years old today.
** Independent wrestler Lady Frost joined Busted Open Radio with David LaGreca and Bully Ray.
** Here’s the premiere episode of ‘Dalton’s Castle’ on Ring of Honor’s YouTube channel:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kZSDNXHUgA[/embedyt]
** Part one and two of Frankie Kazarian’s appearance[s] on the ‘Keepin It 100 with Konnan’ podcast can be found by clicking the highlighted words.
** Here’s a preview of tonight’s episode of IMPACT Wrestling on AXS:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5IQvXK7Iqg[/embedyt]
** According to PWInsider, Chris DeJoseph’s departure from WWE last week was indeed a termination. His departure stems from his behavior during company meetings.
** Flash Morgan Webster chatted with Alicia Atout.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1X522hVv_O8[/embedyt]
** Baron Corbin joined the ‘Who Goes There Podcast’ and they covered the film ‘Mutant Blast’.
** The brother of Matt Sydal, Mike Sydal, appeared on Airey Bros. Radio.
** Tony Khan noted that Linda Hogan has been banned from all AEW events after she sent out the following tweet:
“watching the looting , it’s all afro Americans, not sure how robbing and stealing set the record straight but if they want to be heard they need to be civilized .”
If any of the quotes from the following podcasts or video interviews are used, please credit those sources and provide an H/T and link back to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
